-Athena's POV-

I woke up really early in the morning; around the time when the sun had just rose and there was barely enough light to keep the sky bright. The boys of the house were sleeping heavily. Hell, Grayson's snoring was the thing that woke me up.

Slipping on a tank top and some sweatpants, I marched into the kitchen. I grabbed a pan after deciding on making pancakes. Maybe some breakfast would encourage the family to trust me a bit more. Who doesn't love a girl who could cook? It actually made me a bit angry how much people loved to expect that women are alive to cook for men.

The soft sizzle of the pancake on the pan made me fall into a hypnotic stage. I stared straight ahead, closing my eyes to focus on the sound of the pancake sizzling on the pan.

**********

"AHHHHH!!!" The man's scream echoed throughout the walls of the ancient castle. His face scrunched up really tightly as his abdomen contracted, trying to ignore the stab wound. Ra's stood behind me, Talia behind him. I picked up the branding iron that Grandmaster used on the cattle. It burned a bright orange. Another shrill scream escaped him as I pressed the iron to his cut flesh.

"Now, tell us, where are the bombs you stole from me?" Ra's said calmly and smoothly. The man groaned, but still refused to talk. "Fine, you leave me no choice but to let my Nightingale here out of her cage." Ra's lifted a hand and I immediately launched forward. I dug my nails into the man's face and tore until blood coated my fingers. He still kept his cool. I pulled out a pistol and loaded one gold bullet. I aimed the barrel of the gun at the man's lap.

"You're about to become sterile, I suggest you start talking," I punched his gut with the gun and put it back on the target.

"Okay! Okay! I took them! But you can't them back. They're gone," he wheezed out, closing his eyes. A sweaty curl of hair flopped down onto his forehead. Talia smiled a little bit. I stood up straighter, emotionless.

"Where might they be, Mr. Morki?" Ra's stepped forward looking into the bloodshot eyes of the poor man. Except, I didn't feel bad for him. He had taken the bombs, he deserved to be punished.

"I sold them. They're gone," he gasped, "the guy who took them said he had a big plan and I was just a pawn."

I sighed and turned away angrily. Ra's rested a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. His ancient hand had a weird shut-down feeling for me, like I was his little robot and he could easily pull my plug. I took a deep breath and refocused my brain. Talia had left during my tiny meltdown.

"Who was the big bad king who took them?" Ra's gracefully glided right in front of the man before I could even blink. He stared Morki down, a serious smile on his face.

"I don't know, I swear! He had his other guys deliver the bomb to him I never met him," when I took a dangerous step closer, the man continued, "he said he wanted what you had. H-he wanted to destroy it! That's it!"

"You think he'll detonate the bombs just because they were yours?" I asked, turning to my ringmaster.

"Tell that madman, whoever is, that he deserves to be where he is the next time you see him," Ra's said.

"Where will he be?" Morki looked up with his bloodshot eyes.

"In hell, right where you're going. Nightingale." With a flick of Ra's head, I pulled out my gun and shot the guy they between his eyes. He fell limp immediately as we left the room.

After some of the assassins carried the body out of the main chamber, I followed Ra's to the Lazarus pit for his yearly bath. The neon green glow of the pool made me want to cover my eyes, but I didn't. Grandmaster took off his cape and removed his shirt. I had never assisted him before during the rejuvenation treatment. Talia had left though, so I followed him into the cave like area.

"Grandmaster," I spoke softly and calmly, "back in the torture chambers, when you put  your hand on my shoulder like that...how did you shut me down so quickly?" The old man in front of me arched his back and began to depend on a cane to walk. His skin shriveled into tight wrinkles and all his hair turned bright white.

"It's your pressure plate." The answer came nonchalantly out of his wheezing mouth. He slowly walked into the pool. Before my eyes, he disappeared into the mass of green. I took short and panicked breathes as I began to realize what that meant.

"Pressure Plate? My pressure plate!? I never had a pressure plate a year ago before my family died. What did they do to me?" I began to silently ask myself. For some reason all the veins in my neck and forehead flared. My vision began to blur and turn a dark red. I tensed my fists. I let out a roar; one that might've rivaled a bear. Out of nowhere, the buffed up male version of my demonic state pounced out of the Lazarus Pit and tackled me down. I was nowhere near rolling over to Ra's Al Ghul at that point.

He muscly arms pushed my face down onto the rocky floor. I jerked my head back and quickly grabbed the side of his body, flipping him over my back as I crouched. His body skidded across the ground as he slammed into a rock. I rose to my feet and charged for another attack of blind anger, but Ra's got up just in time to whack me across the face with a hammer fist. I barely felt the pain and the blood that flowed out with it, only the impact. And it made me angrier. With one slick motion, I climbed onto his back and wrapped my hands around his neck. My nails dug into his throat. He dropped to the floor, me landing hard on my spine. Ra's hands now wrapped around my neck as he squeezed. I scrambled with my limbs to try to break the hold, but I was losing too much air. Like a little puppy, I went limp in retreat. Something flashed in Grandmaster's eyes -- well, more like flashed out. The overbearing neon green that was in his eyes before had left. He stood up off of me. I grabbed his hand in an arm-breaking attack, but he rested his fingers on my shoulder again. I took a deep breath and realized what I had done.

"Grandmaster, I am so sorr--,"

"Don't be. You were losing that fight. If you want the truth, when entering the Lazarus Pit, it makes you angry. So, when you took a dip, some ten months ago, it got to you," Ra's smoothly pulled his uniform back on and led me away from the pit, "Unlike you, I am no child. I have learned control over my seven hundred year practice in this realm and I know how to harness the Lazarus's anger the way it needs to be used. You were a failed experiment. The first child to ever be put in the Pit. You have not learned control yet of that anger, but I hope, during your training, that you will." I looked down at my feet in embarrassment. I was almost ten years old, and yet I still was not mature enough to become as good as Grandmaster had wanted me to be.

I wandered to the medic wing of the castle and sat down for a usual check up. The doctor, a veteran from the Vietnam War and currently a senior high-class assassin, greeted me with a salute as I went through my usual routine. After a couple of fixes to the wounds I had received from my fight, Doctor Nguyen had finished.

"Doc," I asked.

"What is it?"

"Grandmaster said I was the failed experiment of putting a child in Lazarus. Is this true?"

"Yes, it is," he turned to me with the most sympathetic look anyone had given me since I had began my training. I looked down trying to sift through my feelings towards being cared for, since they had began to drift away from me.

"What happened? Ra's said that that is why I get those episodes of anger out of nowhere. He said I can't control myself."

"It is true. That is why I was ordered to install the pressure plates on your two shoulders and on your back," Doctor Nguyen had replaced his sympathy with his usual matter-of-fact look. He showed me my ex rays and just like that, they were there. A small disk was hidden under my right shoulder cap, my left shoulder cap, and laying underneath my spine. I dared to touch it myself, but nothing happened. "It doesn't work for you, only the Grandmaster. It is linked to him and any other specific people he personally programs using fingerprint technology," Doctor Nguyen jumped in. He placed his hand on my back as he lifted the back of my shirt. "See? Nothing."

I cuddled into a ball to inspect my bruised knees that poked out underneath my casual shorts. Nguyen kneeled down in front of me and smiled up. "Will it really destroy me? People always say anyone who goes in the Lazarus Pit comes out insane," I sniffled.

"Hey, no crying or fear here. This is a place for assassins," Nguyen snapped loudly. He sat down beside me and pulled me into a hug, cradling me like a child. "It's up to you whether or not you let it get to you. I think you're the strongest person here. Wanna know why?" His voice was so soft. He was actually talking to me like the age I was.

"Why?"

"Because you're fighting for a cause. This whole anger thing will pass if you learn to control all the madness in you. Your spirit is stronger than anything here and anyone here." Nguyen kissed my forehead and helped me off of the stool I was sitting on. I hugged him quickly and ran towards my room.

The next morning I awoke to a strange feeling. I decided to check it out with my new-found friend. But, Doc wasn't in. I asked everyone, but they ignored me. Finally, I came upon Ra's.

"Where is Doctor Nguyen? I need to speak with him," I asked. Grandmaster rose a finger and shook his head.

"He died this morning. He wasn't doing his job, so he was cut." The plain look on Ra's face made me blistering angry. I began to breathe faster and the red vision started to come back. They killed him because he showed me kindness. Running to tear that bastard limb from limb, I reached out my fist to Ra's, but again, his hand upon my right shoulder stopped me. I fell to the ground and gazed up at the ceiling. "No one shall be giving you anything but respect and challenge. No one shall show our top assassin mercy," Ra's said to himself as he stepped over my body. I wanted to grab at his leg, but all the joints in my body all relaxed and kept me laying down. I knew what this was about now. Sure, I was ten on the outside, but I had just learned a lifetime of lessons through that. I was training to be the best killer. To dish out pain, I had to receive it. I stumbled to my feet and led myself to the fighting gym in silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~I told you guys I get it going by Christmas break! Aye and an origin chapter pretty lucky, you chaps are! I'll try to update this week again or next week. Four more chapters to be written by the time break is over, okay? HOLD ME ON IT GUYS! And as always, don't forget to vote, comment, or follow if you aren't already doing so~~~~~~~~